Before 86,037 at the Los Angeles Coliseum, Brett Hundley quieted his critics with a superlative, two-touchdown rushing performance. Coupled with a mistake-free night through the air, he guided the Bruins to a 35-14 victory.

Uneven season be damned, the redshirt sophomore had become the first UCLA quarterback in 15 years to win two straight over USC.

“That’s the Brett I like,” offensive coordinator Noel Mazzone said. “That’s a hard position to play. There’s a lot of factors that go into it. Who’s surrounding you, your supporting cast. I think he just kind of relaxed back there, and was just Brett.”

That supporting cast, though — what a job it did.

An offensive line that was already starting three true freshmen lost one of them less than four minutes into the game. Right tackle Caleb Benenoch was ejected after throwing a punch at USC defensive lineman J.R. Tavai.

Replacing him was redshirt sophomore Ben Wysocki, a little-used guard. Even from way up in the Coliseum press box, the drool from USC’s vaunted defensive front seemed almost visible.

Then, something strange happened.

“I said, not just stand up to them, but impose our will on them every single play,” offensive line coach Adrian Klemm said.

After giving up a sack on the opening series, UCLA only allowed one more through the rest of the game — a revelation considering that Arizona State racked up nine sacks a week ago.

“He’s been paying attention, obviously,” Klemm said of Wysocki, who looked like a transfer candidate at times this season. “Paying attention a little more than I thought he was.”

It was a statement not only for him, but the unit as a whole. The patchwork unit had lost three tackles to injury this season, two of them starters, and often shouldered the blame for any of UCLA’s offensive struggles. There was none of that as the regular season came to a close.

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“We’ve had our moments throughout the season where we’ve done well,” Klemm said. “People tend to focus on the things that we did poorly. A few plays in the game could ruin the whole game for us. I thought today was a game where we put it together early on.”

Seeking new blood

Head coach Jim Mora made sure that any prospective Bruins watching ABC on Saturday night got some love.

“If I’m a high school player, I want to play at UCLA right now,” Mora said after the 35-14 win over USC.

With no practices scheduled for the upcoming week, the Bruins’ staff is already back on the recruiting trail. UCLA’s 12-man class for 2014 is currently ranked just 50th nationally by Rivals.com, but Mora proved a year ago that he and his assistants could close strong into February.

Getting the school’s first win at the Coliseum since 1997 won’t hurt.

“There’s rules where we can’t talk to these guys, and they’re all standing outside the locker room wanting to talk,” said Klemm, named last year by multiple sites as the Pac-12 Recruiter of the Year. “That’s an exciting thing. ... Hopefully, this gives us a little bit of momentum going into it.”

Barr closing in

Facing increased attention in an altered defensive role, linebacker Anthony Barr has nevertheless put up impressive numbers in his final year at UCLA. A finalist for four major national awards, the senior leads the Pac-12 with five forced fumbles and 20 tackles for loss.

That latter number may be the most impressive. In two years on defense, he has 41.5 tackles for loss, just four shy of tying the program’s career mark set by Carnell Lake, a three-year starter and eventual five-time Pro Bowler.